Mistletoe
by LightGirl101
Summary: On Christmas eve, Ichigo goes to a party and gets trapped in the attic with Orihime for two hours. Will they grow closer? What about the confusing feelings they have for each other? Will they finally act on it? Fluffy one-shot


Summary: On Christmas eve, Ichigo goes to a party and gets trapped in the attic with Orihime for two hours. Will they grow closer? What about the confusing feelings they have for each other? Will they finally act on it?

Ichigo sighed as he talked to and danced with random people. Why did he even go to this stupid party again? Oh, that's right. His dad had said he needed to get out more and that since Keigo had invited him, he should go. And then he'd kicked him outside _in the cold_ with only his jacket, not even giving the berry time to grab his hat and scarf before slamming the door shut.

He had to admit though, Keigo threw a nice party. No matter that Ichigo hadn't even wanted to be here in the first place. The berry looked up as he felt the reiatsu of a person who'd been frequently on his mind since he'd saved her from Hueco Mundo a month ago. Orihime Inoue. She had just arrived with Tatsuki, her best friend since middle school.

He wasn't sure on his feelings for her yet. Before, it had been 'just a friend' but lately it was unclear. Ever since they'd gone to save Rukia and that strengthened to where he couldn't stop thinking of her when she'd left to keep all of them safe... granted, it was completely stupid, but it showed just how much of a nice person she was. Just how much she could care for people.

Orihime turned suddenly and blushed when her eyes met his, quickly looking away but Tatsuki smirked, said something, and pushed the red head in Ichigo's direction. He quickly looked in another direction, hiding a blush as she made her way over hesitantly.

"K-Kurosaki-kun?" She said hesitantly, her voice raising above the music, and he looked up and offered a smile.

"Hey Inoue." said the berry. He got a good look at what she was wearing - a dark green skirt with a skin tight sleeveless red shirt, both with fur along the edges and red boots - and immediately felt under dressed in his jeans, sneakers, and blue muscle shirt under his gray sweater. Ichigo blushed a bit, "Uhm... you look nice." he said to fill the silence between them.

Orihime's face immediately turned bright red, "W-well, Rangiku helped me get ready for the party. I actually don't think I look very good in it." obviously, she thought he was saying it to be nice.

Ichigo gave a crooked grin that had been showing up on his face more and more since getting back from Heuco Mundo, "Now you're just being modest." he looked around, "Do you wanna-" he cut off as there was a presence above them, from the attic. A Hollow presence.

Orihime smiled in mild disappointment but they ran towards the steps, Ichigo sharing a meaningful look with Chad and Ishida, who both nodded and acted like nothing was going on. Leaving it to them.

"You know, I'm starting to think that the weak hollows do this on purpose." Ichigo deadpanned after he and Orihime took care of it without Ichigo even having to go Shinigami. The girl nodded in slow agreement as she followed the berry down the steps to the second floor but the door wouldn't budge. "Dammit." He scowled, shoving the door with all of his weight. "We're locked in."

Orihime's eyes widened and she helped, "Come on, door!" she cried, "Please open!"

The music from the first floor was loud enough that they couldn't be heard when they called for their friends so they sighed and Ichigo lead her back up to the attic once more. "This isn't exactly how I expected my Christmas eve to turn out." he mused softly, a small, irrate scowl appearing on his face as he sat on the old chest while Orihime sat on the window seat, over-looking the frosty ground with a dreamy gaze, daydreaming about who knows what.

Orihime laughed as the object of her affection grinned, telling her a story about his family camping trip two years ago, just a bit before he'd become a shinigami. They'd become bored after the first ten minutes of sitting and had started talking, learning more about each other in the last hour or so then they'd known after being friends for so long.

She learned that he knew how to play guitar, he learned that she used to take dance lessons. Ichigo found that she loved cooking not just her odd creations but also normal recipes because her brother had taught her, much like, she learned right after, how he'd taught Yuzu when their mom had died. Orihime offered him a soft smile when he'd admitted to feeling fear when he'd faced Aizen and how he actually didn't mind his inner hollow after they'd come to an agreement, and he'd put an arm around her shoulders when the busty red head began to cry as she talked about her stay in Hueco Mundo.

They were in that attic for nearly two and a half hours before the people down below slowly began to trickle away and all that was left were their closests friends, who'd been looking for them before finally just asking Keigo if he'd seen where they'd gone.

"Asano!" Tatsuki barked as she pushed herself past the bickering Matsumoto and Yumichika, who had both decided to crash the party.

"Yes?" Keigo, slightly dazed from who knows what, asked, turning to look at her, a slight and possibly drunken flush on his cheeks.

"Have you seen Orihime and Ichigo?" asked the worried tom-boy as Rukia stood beside her, holding hands with Renji as they wondered where their fellow shinigami was because, truthfully, they could hardly sense his reiatsu ever since his final battle last month and Orihime's was still recovering so it was almost not there at all.

Instantly, Keigo sobbered up from his little stint and beamed, "I saw them go upstairs!" he said giddily, "I think they're..." he made a suggestive movement with his hands and Tatsuki went wide eyed and burst up the steps.

"Orihime! Ichigo!" she called as she, Keigo, Renji, and Rukia searched for their friend. Slamming open doors until the only one left was the attic. She tried opening it, but it was... "Locked." Tatsuki frowned, trying again, "Asano, do you have a key for this door?" she demanded, turning to him.

"Uhm... yeah." Keigo pulled the key out from who knows where and unlocked the door. They opened it and rushed up, feeling the mild bits of their friends' energy, and found them both sitting on the window seat, laughing together.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki said in relief, sighing. Orihime and Ichigo stopped laughing and looked at her before looking at each other and snickering. "What?" she said suspiciously.

"Nothing Tatsuki-chan." Orihime said innocently before her eyes lit up, "Ichigo! We're free!" she said, spinning to look at the berry, who nodded in reluctant relief. Truthfully, he'd forgotten that they were trapped in here but that could be thanks to the good company.

"So it seems..." Ichigo murmured thoughtfully before a a light smile appeared when Orihime's stomach gave a ferocious growl, making the red head blush.

"How long have you guys been up here?" Rukia said incredulously, pulling them down the steps.

"About... two and some hours." the berry frowned a bit, trying to think of it, when Tatsuki cut in.

"You guys must be hungry then. I'm sure Asano has food for you to eat. Right Asano?" she turned a seemingly innocent look to Keigo, who shuddered and quickly nodded in agreement.

After Asano started going through his kitchen, Tatsuki helping him, it was just Ichigo and Orihime as the others had gone off to the living room. They alked towards the dinning room to talk a bit more, and stopped in the middle of the room, talking. "You know, asside from being trapped in the attic, I had a lot of fun." Ichigo said with a small smile as the red head blushed.

"I'm not that interesting." Orihime denied, shaking her head.

"No, you really are." the berry returned, smirking a bit when she turned a brighter shade of red.

They were quiet for a minute before Ichigo heard a quiet snickering at the back of his head and then his hollow spoke, **'Oh Kiiing!'** he said in a singsong voice, **'Look up!'** Ichigo instinctively did so and then blushed a bit. "Mistletoe." he mumbled and Orihime gave a squeak as she also looked up and then down with a huge blush.

"Y-you don't have to kiss me if you don't want to, Ichigo." she said in embarrassment, "I'm probably not a good kisser anyway and- Ichigo?" Orihime blinked in confusion when he grabbed her chin and made her look at him.

"You talk _way_ too much." Ichigo said with a light smile before pulling her into a soft kiss. Her eyes widened before, finally, she closed her eyes and hesitantly began kissing him back.

Ichigo inwardly wondered if this was her first kiss and then promised that, if it was, this would be the best kiss she'd ever have. He heard a cough from the kitchen door and pulled back reluctantly as Orihime lingered forward a bit but than opened her eyes slowly, a light blush on her face. Slowly, the two teens turned to look and saw an amused looking Tatsuki standing there with Keigo, who was staring at them, wide eyed.

Well, Ichigo decided as he ran a nervous hand through his hair, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad christmas after all.


End file.
